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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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HoUinger Corp. 
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^RE-UNION* 



OP THE 



CLASS OF SIXTY -III, 



HAMILTON COLLEGE, 



TWENTY YEAES AFTER GRADUATION. 



UTICA, N. Y. 

T. J. GRIFFITHS, PRINTER, 131 GENESEE ST. 
1889. 






/[ T will be remembered that Bnrdick's report covered 
^J five years, instead of three. Owing to the slight 
changes made in the positions of the class, and to the very 
meagre replies received, the account of the decennial re- 
union was not published. Some of the statements then 
given, and a few of the letters, are incorporated herein. 
There were at that meeting but six members present, 
viz : North, Burdick, Cleveland, Macauley, Payson and 
Downing. These gathered under a tree in the Clinton 
Park, and " renewed old associations " as thoroughly 
as their limited number allowed. 

B\ TRANSFER. 

JUN 3 1910 



Utica, N. Y., May 20, 1889. 
My dear Class-mate : 

A Ke-union of the Class of 1869, Hamilton College, to 
commemorate the Twentieth Anniversary of its graduation, 
will be held under the Class-tree, on the Campus, June 26, 
at 2.30 p. M. 

Can you be present ? The old boys would like an account 
of your stewardship for the past ten years. Please send it 
to me, with a cabinet photograph of yourself, for the Re- 
union. A new '69 album will be placed in Memorial Hall, 
and it is greatly desired that it be complete. 
An early reply requested, 

Sincerely yours, 

Wm. L. Downing, Class Secretary, 
Box 186, Utica, N. Y. 

The above circular letter was sent to eacli member of 
the class of 1869, excepting Allen, wbose address could 
not be ascertained. The meeting thus calledVas beld in 
the room of the Board of Trustees, in the Library Hall, 
June 26, 1889. The original intention of holding it un- 
der the Class-tree was abandoned, as the sky was heavy 
with clouds, which earlier in the day dripped unceas- 
ingly, and in the late afternoon sent down frequent 
showers. Foote and Griggs arrived the previous dayj 
and together wandered over the Campus, wondering 
whether they had come " clear from Brooklyn to have a 
re-union all by themselves." - They came upon the tree 
the boys of '69 had planted twenty years ago, with 
"'H/iZv "ABXov *AdrjV7jg'' cut in the heavy boulder at its 
foot. They were astonished at the change. Tall, sym- 
metrical, with wide spreading branches, it was able to 
receive within its shade not only those who dedicated 
it on that bright June afternoon in '69, but also their 
wives and, children, should they assemble there on the 
morrow. 

Foote jotted down several points for his next Sun- 
day's sermon, on the subject of change, and hired a 
small boy to climb the tree and cut away a few dead 



twigs and brandies that here and there disfigured it. 
Upon reaching the village they met Lillibridge. He 
was easily recognized — he had his hat on. He came 
from Detroit, where he had left his clients to settle their 
own quarrels. He bore the same dignified appearance 
as of old, and at the class-meeting found the same dif- 
ficulty in comfortably arranging himself that he had 
when Tutor McLean in the old Freshman recitation 
room told him that " when the laws of nature conflicted 
with arbitrary laws, the latter must always give way." 

The trains the following day brought to Clinton, Bur- 
dick from his successful work at Cornell, Ecob with his 
Alumni poem from the "wickeder and more wicked" 
city of Albany, Fowler from his briefs and clients at 
Syracuse, Bagg from the steam-engine manufactory at 
Watertown, Barrows from his Presbyterian flock at 
Oswego, Payson from the Binghamton High School, 
Beecher from his church at Otisco, Bissell from the coal 
and railroad business in New York city, Searle from his 
legal interests in Utica, and the Secretary from the 
Academy of the same city. 

They met at three o'clock. Foote soon discovered 
new points for his first sermon as a D. D. He and Lil- 
libridge were unable to recognize the Secretary ; Searle 
failed to see in a large, finely developed, rotund figure, 
one of the heroes of our first rustication supper ; Pay- 
son could not tell whom our valedictorian's photograph 
represented, nor that Kneeland's picture belonged to a 
member of '69 ; Griggs thought he saw Chrysler in 
Hull's [photograph, and utterly failed to discover any 
traces of the original in that of John Conley ; Barrows 
and Bagg were sorely puzzled as to the identity of 
Griggs ; Beecher warmly greeted the Secretary as Fowl- 
er ; and when Searle facetiously introduced Gouge, of 
'70, as Schlager, Beecher astounded him with the assu- 
rance that he "had not changed more than some of the. 



other boys." Gouge at once beat a hasty retreat, and 
in behalf of his own class rej ected this distinction. 

The new faces of the old boys, as they appeared in 
the album, were closely scanned. Every one noticed the 
marvelous increase of intelligence, as indicated by the 
broad expanse of forehead, which in several cases 
seemed to be unlimited. It was discovered, too, that 
time had been busy not only with the magnolia and the 
personnel of '69, it was seen throughout the Campus, on 
the hillside, in the college buildings, and in the Faculty. 
But two Professors who aided in the work of preparing 
'69 for its later battles, remain — Dr. North and Dr. Pe- 
ters. South College and North have been remodeled 
and improved, with halls running in strange ways, and 
now bear unfamiliar titles. Old Middle has fallen into 
inocuous desuetude. With the exception of a single 
corner occupied by a " Department recitation room," 
the structure is abandoned to ghosts and the " sea- 
gulls " that, back in the sixties, haunted Burdick's bed- 
room, and rendered life at night a burden and a tribu- 
lation. It needs only a few English ivies, and a little 
assistance from Lawrence in removing windows, to make 
it a veritable Blarney Castle. On the hillside, a row of 
beautiful Queen Anne buildings, occupied by smooth- 
faced boys, suggest the club, with its exclusive narrow- 
ing influence, rather than the practical development 
acquired by the generous, broadening force of free, un- 
restrained college association. 

An hour quickly passed in calling up the scenes and 
remembrances of coUege days, when the following let- 
ters were read : 

OFFICE OF 

STATE HOMCEOPATHIC ASYLU3iI 

FOR THE INSANE. 
Dk. Selden H. Talcott, Mel. Supt. 

MiDDLETowN, Orange Co., N. Y. 
Your kind invitation to be present at the 20th anniversary 
of old " '69's " graduation is received. Alas ! I cannot attend. 
On the 24th of June, I expect to wield the gavel at Lalre 



Minnetonka, Minnesota, as President of the American Insti- 
tute of Homoeopatliy — the oldest national medical organiza- 
tion in this country. The annual session of the Institute 
will continue from June 24th to June 28th, and thus I am 
positively excluded from all opportunity of being with you 
on the 26th. "Business first, and pleasure afterward," has 
been my motto since leaving college. As .you know, that 
rule was reversed by me while in college. I had lots of fun 
while at "old Hamilton," and do not regret that such was 
the case. Since graduating, I have been a toiler, and most 
abundantly prospered and honored. 

During the past twelve years it has been my privilege and 
duty to act as medical superintendent of the State Asylum 
at Middletown. We have now 572 victims of misplaced con- 
fidence in charge, and the number is, unfortunately, rapidly 
increasing. I have been President of County, State, and 
National Medical Associations ; have lectured on medical 
topics in Philadelphia, Boston and New York ; am now Pro- 
fessor of Mental and Nervous Diseases in the Homoeopathic 
Medical College of New York city. I have written fourteen 
annual reports of the various institutions under my care. 
Was formerly Medical Superintendent of the New York City 
Inebriate Asylum ; was Medical Director of the New York 
City Soldiers' Home ; and was Chief of Staff at the Homoeo- 
pathic Hospital on Ward's Island, New York, before coming 
here I have written and published about a dozen pamph- 
lets on various medical topics, some of which have been 
copied in the journals of Great Britain. Have been abroad 
twice, and visited in Europe about thirty of the most famous 
asylums there to be found. 

The work of caring for the unfortunate insane is a pecu- 
liar and delicate work, requiring the utmost tact, good judg- 
ment and care. It is a work to which I never dreamed of 
being called ; yet I can honestly say, it is a work into which 
I have thrown my best powers and my whole heart. That I 
have been successful thus far in the trying duties imposed 
upon me, is a constant surprise to myself. I can only state, 
without boasting, that I have worked earnestly and steadily, 
and have always put my faith in the strength and goodness 
of that kind Providence which has sustained and inspired me. 

If I have made a record of numerous small events, it is 
because I have no large ones to chronicle. My efforts have 
been steadily directed toward the accomplishment of good 
work in a medical way, and I have allowed myself to be di- 
verted to other work but very little, believing that success in 
life can only be attained by constantly pegging away at one 
thing. In politics, I have merely made a few speeches for 



Grant. In theology, I have been elected to an eldership in 
the Presbyterian church. While living in Waterville, I had 
charge of a very interesting class in Sunday school, composed 
entirely of — girls ! It was a delightful task, and I greatly 
regretted to give it up. 

Domestically, my lot has been a happy one. Although an 
unsuccessful competitor for the class cup, and in fact having 
no heir apparent, I am yet, in my matrimonial relations, re- 
markably blessed. My wife and I never quarrel, mutual for- 
bearance being our creed and custom. As my wife is a good 
deal smaller than I am, the forbearance system works well. 

With warmest affection and most cordial greeting to all 
class-mates of '69, 

I am faithfully yours, 

Selden H. Talcott. 



ToPEKA, Kansas, May 23, 1879. 
Yours was received a short time ago, while I was in Ithaca. 
I cannot say that I feel very proud of my success for the past 
ten years. Have held fair positions generally, and have been 
at work pretty steady ; but every road that I have been on 
in that time has gone into bankruptcy while I was on it, and 
ended in " sin and sorrow" generally. Was First Assistant 
on the N. Y. B. & M. till the winter of 73 and '74, when that 
road went up. Next held the same place on the Corning 
and Sodus Bay, and that went like " a lamb to the slaughter" 
in the summer of 1875. During the fall and winter of 1875-6 
I was on the Pennsylvania and Erie, and Utica, Ithaca and 
Elmira Kailroads, with no special adventures. Went in the 
spring of 1876 on the Fon du Lac, Amboy & Peoria R. R., 
in Wisconsin. It "busted" in the fall without paying its lia- 
bilities. Next was with a firm of contractors, Jas. Mclntyre 
& Co., getting up plans and specifications for bridges and 
other work, and attending lettings. Succeeded in building 
a large dam and lock at Eau Clause, Wis., and a bridge across 
the Mississippi at Sauk Rapids, Minn. 

Was in 1877 Chief Engineer of the Covington, Columbus 
& Black Hills R. R. It started off very well, but ended the 

. A year there broke me, and I resigned. Was in 

1878 bridging a while, and in the latter part of the season 
on a Government Survey of the Yellowstone River, " Sitting 
Bull's old barber's shop." Was in Ithaca last winter, and 
am now going to work for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa 
Fe, which road I guess is all right. Have succeeded in get- 
ting a sight of experience, and getting back to where 
I fiirst started as to money matters, which is O. O. just grade. 



6 

1 guess tMs is about as full a statement as I can give. 
Have heard nothing from anyone except Draper for some 
time. Truly yours, 

K. P. Ceandall. 



The letter sent to Crandall in May was answered as 

follows ; 

Ithaca, N. Y., May 28, 1889. 

Your circular letter of May 20, to K. P. Crandall, has been 
received. As he was due in Tome, ChUi, about the middle of 
this month, it will be difficult for him to meet with you June 
26th. Think he has a negative in town, and if I can get a 
print, will send. It is not a recent one, but it is the best 
that I can do for you. Respectfully yours, 

C. L. Crandall. 

Crandall has continued his work as civil engineer, and 
his journey to Chili is in connection with his profession. 
Burdick reports these duties to have taken our valedic- 
torian, at different times during the past ten years, to 
nearly every part of the globe. 



Blue Rapids, Kas., May 10, 1879. 

Yours of the 20th is just received, and I hardly know 
what to do with your demand for an autobiography. Ed. 
Wickson made a similar demand several years ago. I failed 
to come to time then, and he drew on his vivid imagination, 
and wrote one for me. 

I wouldn't so much dislike such a personal task if I had 
anything of any special interest or importance to write. If 
I had been married, I would write the boys about my wife 
and children ; but the good sense of the women of my ac- 
quaintance leaves me still in the state of single blessedness, 
and I am consequently deprived of this interesting branch of 
a personal history; nor has there occurred any thrilling ad- 
venture or h£iir-breadth escape that I could possibly weave 
into any truthful history of my nine years' sojourn in Kan- 
sas, by which to relieve the dry recital of a list of common- 
place facts. But barren as the subject is, I will respond to 
your demand. In fact, I am willing to perform almost any 
service if it will bring me in return information of the other 
members of '69, which I am always anxious to get. 

Very soon after Commencement, 1869, I began to study 
law with Hon. Seth Wakeman, of Batavia, N. Y. I had re- 
mained there only about four months when a sudden and se- 



9 

rious attack of the *' Western fever" unfitted me for careful 
study, and rendered the life of a law-student in an Eastern 
law office dull, monotonous and unendurable to me. I re- 
solved to take Horace Greeley's advice — " Go West ; grow 
with the country," and engaged in the enterprise of organ- 
izing a colony of one hundred members to build a town in 
Kansas. In November, 1869, the preliminary meeting to 
talk over the colony enterprise was called in " Starr Hall,'* 
LeRoy, N. T. There were present fifteen or twenty gentle- 
men, to whom this matter had been talked — five of whom, 
including myself, signed the colony contract, agreeing to go 
to Kansas together, locate a town at some point to be select- 
ed, and there make our permanent settlement. I was chosen 
Secretary. We had enough members for a complete organi- 
zation. By March 1, 1870, the quota of one hundred mem- 
bers was filled, the location had been made at the junction of 
the Little Blue and Big Blue rivers, in Marshall Co., Kansas, 
and the town had been staked out and christened " Blue 
Rapids." I arrived on the ground on the 15th of March, 
1870, and have resided here since that time. 

I write this much of this colony enterprise because it is 
the work of greater importance and of greater public good 
than any other in which I have been engaged, and because 
my connection with it has been a position of greater respon- 
sibility, requiring the exercise of grit, nerve and persever- 
ance to a greater degree than any other position I have been 
called to occupy. 

The '' Genesee Colony," when it was organized in " Starr 
Hall," LeRoy, N. Y., with only five members, was the sub- 
ject of some ridicule and sport, because of the lack of pro- 
portion between its small size and its high hopes and broad 
plans. But the result, thus far, io the very much admired 
little city of Blue Rapids. 

I continued to study law after coming to Kansas, spending 
a few months in a law office in Atchison in the fall of 1871, 
and after that studying at home, as the surroundings of a 
new Kansas town would permit ; and my business has been 
that usual to a law and real estate office. 

Up to 1874 I had taken very little active part or interest 
in politics, except in a local way. Served as Township Clerk, 
Township Trustee, &c., wherever it was thought I could best 
advance the interests of the town we were all working to 
benefit. 

In Novemher, 1874, I was elected to the lower house of 
the Legislature for the term of one year ; and in November, 
1876, I was elected to the State Senate for the term of four 
2 



10 

years, commencing January 1st, 1877, and ending January 
1st, 1881. 

Until very recently I have expected to attend this anniver- 
sary of our class, but find that I must forego that great 
pleasure. To look into each other's faces again, and renew 
the happy class-friendships that are scarcely dulled by the 
lapse of time, to meet the old Professors v^ho may still be 
there, to whose patient drill we owe so much ; to climb up 
and down the "Hill," over the walk we helped to build, to 
stroll about the Campus, and admire its trim, pure beauty, 
and to see the boys of the present classes, who are as free 
from care and as happily ignorant of the trials of active life 
as we once were, will indeed be a delightful recreation. It 
would be especially so to this Kansas jayhawker, who has 
never visited the old stamping ground. Although I cannot 
be with you, be assured that each and every member of the 
class has my heartiest wish for the largest possible measure 
of happiness and success. 

Yours very truly, 

C. J. Brown. 

In 1880, Brown was appointed Clerk of the Supreme 
Court of Kansas. Griggs mentions him as still holding 
this position. 



Stillwater, N. Y. 

Yours relative to the class reunion came duly. I am very 
sorry that I cannot be present at the time, had rather count- 
ed on being there. But I am in the midst of packing, get- 
ting ready to move, and we shall not be settled enough (in 
our new home) for me to think of being absent. I am sorry 
that it cannot be otherwise. 

As regards my " exploits" 1 do not know as I have any- 
thing to relate of special interest. Since the last reunion I 
have been quietly at work here as the pastor of the First 
Stillwater Presbyterian Church. I have, however, just ac- 
cepted the call of the Congregational Church of Blandford, 
Mass,, and by the time of the reunion will probably be there. 
My family has not changed, except in age, during the ten 
years' interval. We are four — wife, two daughters and my- 
self. 

Remember me to the old boys, and tell them how much I 
would like to stand with them around the old tree. It must 
be a good sized one by this time. I shake hands with you 
through the distance. 

Yours very truly, 

J. M. Chrysler. 



11 

As soon as Chrysler's name was mentioned Foote 
startled us all by suddenly saying, " Do you know, boys, 
I met Chrysler at the General Assembly some time ago, 
and he weighs two hundred and seventy pounds. Why, 
Bissell, he weighs more than you do." A spirited dis- 
cussion between the two followed as to which one was 
the heavier, but the class generally thought Eush had 
the advantage, as he claimed Foote had not been weighed 
" since that new D. D. had fallen on his shoulders." 



CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, 
E. R. Patson, Principal. 

BiNGHAMTON, N. Y. 

You may count on my being at the reunion. 

I have spent my time in teaching and studying since 
graduation. Was located for about three months at Charl- 
ton, Saratoga Co. Spent two and one-half years at Homer, 
Cortland Co., as teacher of mathematics. Was for one year 
Principal of Evans Academy, Peterboro, N. Y. Taught in 
Utica Academy three and one-half years. Visited the old 
country in the summer of 1875. Resigned position in Utica 
in March, 1877, and went abroad to study. Lived in Leipsic 
and Berhn about three years. Principal of Binghamton 
Central High School since fall of 1879. Made trip to Europe 
in summer of 1887. Married Lillian Corbin of Oxford, New 
York, in 1882. Yours very truly, 

E. R. Patson, 



SCHUYLKILL & LEHIGH VALLEY 

RAILROAD CO., 
Washington Building, No. 1 Broadway. 

New York City. 
I have been absent from the city for some time, out on the 
line of the Schuylkill & Lehigh Valley Railroad, which we 
are building, and have neglected answering your favor of 
the 20th ultimo. It is my intention to be present at the re- 
union of our class on the 26th inst. For the past ten years 
I have been in the coal and railroad business and have suc- 
ceeded fairly well. Trusting that we will have a large repre- 
sentation ^and a good time, I am Sincerely yours, 

R. W. BiSSELL. 

Bissell brought with him the air of thrift and generous 
living that characterizes the successful New Yorker, and 



12 

his genial presence kept tlie meeting aglow from its 
opening to its close. He lias recently suffered a great 
sorrow in the death of his eldest daughter, a young lady 
of nearly eighteen. 

EoME, N. Y. 

After a lapse of years I was glad to hear again from a 
member of old '69, if only in a circular way. I can give you 
and my classmates an " account of my stewardship " in a very 
few words, as my wanderings and changes have not been 
many. I traveled about and prospected until '73, when I 
formed a copartnership with John H. Wilson, of '68, in the 
bock, stationery, wall paper and fancy goods business. In 
this work I have continued ever since. Was married in '85 
and have a little girl two and one-half years old, which I am 
sorry to say is more than some of my classmates can boast 
of. Came very near getting left myself, so I know how to 
sympathize with them in a measure. Enclosed please find a 
cabinet photo, as you requested. 

Yours in '69, " D'Linton W. Greenfield. 

It was an easy thing to discover the original of the 
photograph that was found enclosed. Time seems to 
have dealt very leniently with Greenfield and to have 
drawn but few lines in the genial face the boys of '69 
remember. 



MACHINE A EORIEE EEMINGTON. 

Papiers a Lettres et Fournltures de toutes 
sortes pour la Machine. 

New York, Boston, Philadelphia, "Wash- 
ington, Chicago, Paris, Bruxelles, Lon- 
don, Manchester, Liverpool. 

Wtckoff, Seamans & Benedict. 

Paris, 21 Rue Caumartin. 

Your circular letter of the 20th ultimo reaches me here 
to-day. 

I am starting for the South and have only time to ac- 
knowledge your favor, and to express my profound regret 
that absence from the country will prevent my presence at 
the reunion of the Class of '69 on the 26th proximo. Please 
give my kind remembrances to the boys as far as you may 
have opportunity, and tell them how much I would like to 
be with them and take them again by the hand. 

My history for the past ten years would perhaps be unin- 



13 

teres ting, even if I had time to write it ; and indeed, I could 
scarcely say more than is conveyed by the Commercial Re- 
ports of the Dunn and Bradstreet agencies, and the adver- 
tisements of the Remington type writer. As this would be 
talking shop, nobody would care to hear it ; and this portion 
of my letter would be better suppressed. 

When I get home I will send you one of my photographs. 
"With sincere regards to all the boys, 

Yours sincerely, H. H. Benedict. 

In great haste. 

From the authorities abovQ quoted it is learned that 
Benedict is a member of the prosperous firm of Wyckoff, 
Seaman &, Benedict, engaged in the manufacture of the 
Remington type writer, with offices in all of the princi- 
pal cities of the world. His home is at Ilion, N. Y., 
where the greater part of the time since graduation has 
been passed. He has had many anxieties and, in the 
loss of his three children, deep grief. 



Pastor's Study, 
FIRST PRESBYTERIAi^ CHURCH. 
73 W. Bridge, cor 5tli St. 

Oswego, N. Y. 

Was delighted at hearing from you the other day ; but 
was not at all pleased by being so forcibly reminded of the 
fact that I am growing old. 

Our twentieth anniversary ! Phew ! Don't believe it. 
you must have had some other Rip Van Winkle in mind 
when you addressed that letter to me. But come to add up 
the different sections of my " checkered career " I am afraid 
you are right ; for, " honest injun," it took me some time to 
straighten out the chronology of said interim, since there 
were several years I could not account for. But thus runs 
the record : '69 to '76, practiced law in New York city ; '75, 
Sept. 16, married Mary B. Richardson in New York city; 
'76-'80, anninon— sick; '81-'83, Auburn Theological Sem- 
inary j '83-86, settled at Jamestown, N. Y., First Presby- 
t'erion Church ; '86-date, settled at Oswego, N. Y., First 
Presbyterian Church. Am the ancestor of one son, born 
December 1st, 1880, Sterling by name. 

I hope to be on hand at reunion. 

Fraternally thine, C. D. Babrows. 



u 

523 WlLLOUGHBY AvE., ) 

Brooklyn, N. Y. ) 

Yours of recent date is duly received. 

Yes, I am intending to come to commencement, not having 
been at one since my graduation. I hope that many of the 
old boys will be there. You ask for an account of my stew- 
ardship for ten years. 

In a vvord, I have been at work in the Throop Avenue 
Presbyterian Church, where I have been for fifteen and a 
half years. This is my first and only charge. It was a little 
church of about a hundred members, at that time worship- 
ing in a small frame edifice. The edifice has been enlarged 
twice since to accommodate the congregation, and the church 
are now about to arise and build a substantial brick edifice 
to accommodate about a thousand people. The church 
numbers nearly 900 members and has over 2,000 Sunday 
school scholars under its care. There have been received 
into the church during the fifteen and a half years 860 on 
confession of faith and 540 by letter, or a total of 1,400. 
One colony has been organized into a church which now 
numbers about 150 members, with a Sunday school of about 
600 scholars. 

I have been three times laid up with inflammatory rheu- 
matism during the ten years past, consuming thirteen 
months of time, but conveying to me many valuable lessons 
in practical theology. My health is now good and I weigh 
200 pounds. 

I am happy in my work, and happy in the thought of re- 
turning to '• Old Hamilton " and meeting the faces of the 
dear old boys which I have not seen in twenty years. I 
hope there will be a large number of them present. I will 
see that the cabinet photo reaches you. 

Trusting nothing will prevent my being with you on the 
26th prox., and that the occasion may be full of joy and 
comfort to us all, I am Yours sincerely, 

Lewis R. Foote. 



LAW OFFICE OF 

WILLARD M. LTijLIBEIDGE. 
26 MofiEat Building. 

Detroit, Mich. 
Your letter of the 20th inst. gives me pleasure. I am glad 
the old boys are to get together. I will try and be with 
you. I have two important cases to be tried soon, but I 
think they will both be disposed of before that time. I en- 
close you my photograph. 

And now what shall I say ? I have nothing startling or 



surprisingly brilliant to reveal. Since the publication issued 
at the end of the fifth year my course has been steadily held 
and my practice has grown until I now have all the work 
that I can do, and frequently more than I like, to do. I have 
sought in my profession not so much a temporary popularity 
as a substantial and permanent clientage. 

For two years after graduating I was Superintendent of 
Schools at Plattsburgh, N. Y.; afterward studied law at St. 
Louis, Mo., and in Detroit, Michigan, and have since prac- 
ticed law in the latter city. I am also interested in real 
estate and in several business enterprises, and am something 
of a business man as well as a lawyer. I have been a mem- 
ber of the Board of Education o'f Detroit several terms, and 
am now a member of that Board. I was married December 
5th, 1882, to Miss Katherine Hegeman of New York city, 
and have one daughter. 

I am sorry that I cannot make my report more entertain- 
ing, but you know the first duty of the historian is to be 
truthful. 

I appreciate your kindness in performing the labor of Class 
Secretary. It is an arduous task and, perhaps, a thankless 
one. With many good wishes, 

Yours very truly, Willakd M. Lillibbidge. 



WYOMING ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 

ARTS AND LETTERS. 
Pres't, Ex-Gov. John W. Hoyt, M. D., LL. D., Laramie. 
Curator of Museum, Prof. J. D. Conley, A. M., Ph. D., Laramie. 
Departments — Natural Science, Social and Political Sciences, Arts. 
Letters, History. 

Laeamie, "Wyoming Ter. 

Your very welcome letter received at last. What a nice 
long ride it has had for two cents. It was miscarried in 
Illinois. This is no slur on your penmanship, for it was 
carried to the place directed, Collinsville, and sent from there 
to Carlinville (my former address); thence here, Wyoming 
Territory. I am Professor of Chemistry and Geology in the 
University of Wyoming. 

Two years ago an opportunity presented itself for me to 
come up in the world. I siezed old Opportunity, and am 
now in one of the highest institutions on the face of the 
earth — 7,132 feet above the level of the sea. Boys, you think 
you are high up to-day as you look from College Hill into 
the beautiful village below. You are^ relatively speaking, 
and besides you are in one of the most beautiful spots in the 
country. 

How I would like to come down from my Kocky Mountain 



16 

home and shake hands with you, and take part in calling up 
scenes of 20 years ago. I wonder how many of us will be 
left when another 20 years rolls away. As I look upon my 
picture which I am about to send you I wonder whether 
Sprague, of '70, has as much hair as T have. If Talcott, or 
Brown, or Deck North are there, ask them what they think 
about it. 

Boys, I feel no older than when we bade adieu to Old 
Hamilton, but there are a few gray hairs starting on my 
temples. I have one consolation : there will never be many 
on the top of my head, where the wool ought to grow. The 
only account of my stewardship for the past 10 years not 
given above, and worthy of mention, are : First, In 1885 I 
painted some geological charts and had them copyrighted. 
Last year the Trustees of Blackburn University bestowed 
upon me the degree Ph. D. I have a pretty home here in 
Laramie, a beautiful town of 7,000, called the Gem City of 
the Eocky Mountains. If any of my dear classmates should 
pass through here, it would give me great pleasure to enter- 
tain you. I am going to Yellowstone Park next month; 
hope I will make as fine a collection as I did in my trip 
through the Territory last year. Good-bye, boys. God 
bless you all. Bespectfully, 

J. D. CONLEY. 



TiTUSVILLE, Pa. 

Your gentle reminder came to hand the other day and 
awakened many delightful memories. Twenty years ! ! ! 
Yes, I am getting old ! My good wife says so, at least, as 
she points to a bald spot on my cranium, and even iDsinuates 
that the tell-tale salt of grey has been sprinkled by time over 
my locks. Then there are three boys and two girls who 
recognize my paternity. How this last statement must put 
to shame you unlucky bachelors. Not only has the good 
Lord given me a helpmeet indeed and five healthy, active 
children, but my whole ministry has been on the " sunny 
side " of life. Few of the shades and shadows have as yet 
crossed my pathway. My previous pastorates have been 
typical ones, and my present field of work is full of encour- 
agement and stimulus, as well as hearty appreciation and 
affection. The items may be sun^med up briefly, since grad- 
uation : 

One year, Principal of Southold Academy ; three years, 
Auburn Theological Seminary ; nine years, pastor First 
Presbyterian Church of Waterloo, N. Y.; five and one-half 
years, pastor First Presbyterian Church of Fredonia, N. Y.; 



17 

one and one-half years, pastor First Presbyterian Chi^*ch of 
Titusville, Pa. — 20 years. 

I have worked hard all these years, and have hardly known 
sickness. This I attribute partly to regular, systematic 
habits and much exercise. Vacations I have always insisted 
upon and taken, not merely as a right, but as a duty to my- 
self and my people. These vacations have not been seasons 
of idleness, but have been spent in travel from Canada to 
Alaska, from Washington to Santa Fe, as well as a trip 
through seven European countries. 

While I think of these blessings which have come to me, I 
remember the classmates whose names are starred and mourn 
theu* early death. Others I have not heard from for years, 
but hope that tney will " speak for themselves " at this time, 
and let us know how twenty years have treated them. 
Please remember me heartily to all who are at the reunion, 
as I regret very much that special engagements will keep me 
at home. I enclose the only photo. I have of recent date. 
Sincerely yours, M. D. Kneeland. 

Kneeland now writes Doctor at both ends of his name. 
The D. D. came from the college two or three years ago ; 
the M. D. was a family legacy. 



JOHN C. FOWLER, 

ATTOENEY AT LAW, 



Room 10, Weiting Block, 1 



Sykacuse, N. Y. 

Have been somewhat undecided as to whether I should be 
able to obey the summons to the Class of '69 to meet under 
the class tree on the 26th. I think now, however, I shall do 
so provided I can find the tree. As I am not much of a 
woodsman I tnist the enclosed photograph may aid you in 
finding me in case I should gather under the wrong tree. 

As to my stewardship for the past ten years, I might 
say that it has been a continuation of the same sub- 
ject, seeing that justice was duly administered in this city, 
occasionally indexing and supplementing the Revised Stat- 
utes of the State, and now and then for a moderate compen- 
sation assisting those desirous of immortalizing themselves 
in the compilation of works on law. 

' My family, according to the latest census, consists of one 
wife, two sons and one daughter. The youngest son has 
just put on pants and requires much of my personal atten- 
tion, but I am in hopes he may be induced to let me off for 
the 26th. Yours very truly, J. C. Fowler. 

3 



18 

GEO. Ei DRAPER, 

ATTOBNEY. 

Sidney, Iowa. 

When I received notice of the reunion of the Class' 69 1 fully 
determined to be present. I assure you that my inability to 
do so is a very great disappointment. However, I find that 
to be away from business at that time would endanger in- 
terests that I must not neglect. Hence I send greeting to 
you and the boys of '69 and express the hope that on that 
day, when old college days are in review, the absence of 
" Drape " will not be entirely unnoticed. 

Your letter recalled the old roll, " Downing, Draper, Ecob," 
and ever since, like some old refrain, I hear the call as we 
did twenty years ago — '' Downing, Draper, Ecob." College 
days have been much in mind since then, and incidents long 
forgotten come trooping in until, at least in feeling, I am 
again quite familiar with the boys. I presume no member 
of the class has been, since graduation, more isolated than I 
have. Occasionally I have read something of the boys and 
their success, but do not now recollect taking one of them 
by the hand since 1870. I am now anxious to know of them 
and hope some friend will send me an account of the reunion. 

Of myself I have nothing to write which would be of in- 
terest to the boys. My life has been entirely uneventful. 
In common, I presume, with most of the class I have found 
no easy way to success. Every advance has been gained by 
hard hand to hand contest. I have brought no honor to the 
class, and hope no disgrace. In fact, I can sum the whole 
matter by saying that my life has been practically the dupli- 
cate of that of any hard working, attentive country lawyer. 
Not much poetry about it and not much to satisfy ambition 
for place or honor. However, in this modest way I am con- 
tent to serve. I was married at Sidney Oct. 23d, 1873. 
Name of fortunate lady, Ada B. Loose. Kesult, Otto E. 
Draper, born Oct. 2d, 1874. 

Now, with kindly regard for each of the Class of '69, I am 
Your friend and classmate, Geo. E. Draper. 

Owing to the Harrisonian system of reforming (?) the 
mail lately inaugurated, Draper's photograph was not 
received until after the Re-union. It had been " missent.'* 
Those who have seen it easily recognize the old familiar 
features. His duties as a " hard working country law- 
yer " have failed to obliterate them, greatly to the satis- 
faction of his classmates. 



19 

CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 

SCHOOL OP LAW. 

Ithaca, N. Y. 

I have been so busy of late that I have delayed writing to 
you longer than I intended to do. 

The facts connected with my life since the publication of 
the five years book are as follows : I continued a member 
of the law firm of " Beardsley, Cookinham & Burdick" until 
1879, when the firm was changed to " Beardsley, Burdick & 
Beardsley." In March, 1882, I was elected Mayor of Utica 
on a citizens' ticket. In September of the same year I was 
chosen to the Law Professorship in Hamilton College, which 
had recently become vacai^t by the resignation of Dr. Evans. 
I continued to reside in Utica until April, 1883, when I gave 
up the active practice of the law, and moved to Clinton. 
Early in 1887 I was appointed one of the Professors in the 
Cornell University School of Law, which opened in the fall 
of 1887. My family consists of my wife, four children and 
myself. Oar present home is on 8outh Avenue, University 
Campus, Ithaca, N. Y., which is always open to members 
of '69. Yours sincerely, 

F. M. BUKDICK. 



Otisco, N. Y. 

In answer to yours of some time ago, I shall endeavor to 
be under the Class-tree the 26th, and furnish a photo for the 
album. 

As to the "ten years' stewardship," it has been too un- 
eventful to make it worth while to say much about it. The 
last four years of it has been spent here, and the remainder 
in country charges, none of them larger than this (90 mem- 
bers), in the ministry of the gospel. The exception is be- 
tween July of 1882 and '83, when I was so borne down with 
invalidism that I did practically nothing. My work in the 
ministry has always been more or less hindered by poor 
health, yet I hope I have been able to accomplish something 
for the Master. Fraternally, 

Jno. E. Beechee. 



Aekpobt, N. Y. 
I am very sorry I cannot respond to your notification of the 
Class Re-union by my personal presence. I have long hoped 
I might help celebrate this anniversary, but I do not see as I 
can. I shall think of the group under the Class-tree, how- 
ever, and of the similar group which met there 20 years ago, 
and of some — only a few — who could not if they would never 
so willingly, meet with the rest now, because they have 



20 

passed to the other shore. I would be glad to meet all the 
class who remain, and again wish them God speed. I send 
them that wish, however, from here with all my heart, and 
will look forward hopefully to the next re-union. 

As to my stewardship, the account is quickly rendered : 
*79 was mostly occupied in recovering from a serious illness. 
In the spring of '80 I took charge of a Congregational 
church in Ellsworth, Ct., and remained there till the spring 
of '85, when I came to the Presbyterian church here, where 
I have since continued as pastor. The years have not been 
remarkably eventful, but quiet and quite ordinary, like those 
that roll over ten thousand other people. Therefore little is 
to be said of them. 

With undiminished regard for yourself and all the boys, 

I am, yours truly, 

Ekwin C. Hull. 



WATERTOWN STEAM ENGINE CO., 
Manufacturers of 

StATIONAEY & POETABLE StEAM EnGINBS, 

CiBCuiiAE Saw Mills, &c. 
G. A. Sherman, Pres't. 

S. F. Bagg, Sec'y. 

Watebtown, N. Y. 

Yours of the 20th inst. at hand. It would require a vivid 
imagination to stretch my story beyond a very brief compass. 

Two years teaching school. One year as salesman in a 
machinery house in New York city. Four years ('71 to '76) 
Secretary of the Utica Steam Engine Co. at Utica. Found 
myself out of business in '76, and read law for want of a bet- 
ter occupation. Joined the Hamilton Colle.sfe Law Class, 
and was admitted to the bar in April, 1887. Meantime came 
to Watertown, N. Y., and became Secretary and Treasurer of 
the Watertown Steam Engine Co. Married M. Louise 
Young, of Brooklyn, Sept. 3, 1875. 

I confidently expect to reach Clinton in time for our class 
re-union. I enclose the photo, however, to answer to roll- 
call for me should I fail to appear. Sincerely, 

S. F. Bagg. 



OFFICE OF U. S. ATTORNEY, 

DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 

Washington, D. C, May 24, 1879. 

My short story of the first ten years following 1869 is as 
follows : 

Graduated in 1869. Met in July Kate E. Morgan in 
Glens Falls, N. Y. We were married in March, 1872, by 



21 

Prof. Upson, Have three children ; Helen, six years old ; 
Henry, four years old ; Carl, nearly two years old. Com- 
menced studying law in '69, and commenced practicing in 
the same year. Jn 1870 was appointed Assistant U. S. At- 
torney for Virginia, and in 1872 was appointed U. S. Attor- 
ney for Virginia. Was a Virginia member of the Philadel- 
phia Convention that nominated Gen. Grant ; and for four 
years was the Virginia member of the National Republican 
Committee. In 1874 moved to Washington to live, and in 
1875 was appointed Assistant U. S. Attorney for this Dis- 
trict, and have held that position for nearly four years. 
Have been near Clinton several times, but it has always been 
thereabouts, instead of there. Yours in '69. 

H. H. Wells, Jr. 

From Dr. Upson information was received that Wells 
has continued in Washington the practice of the pro- 
fession he acquired so readily. In April last Mrs. Wells 
died, leaving two daughters and three sons. The heart- 
felt sympathy and condolence of the class is extended to 
the husband, with his motherless children. 



San Francisco, Cal., May 18, 1879. 

Your letter is received. I am glad you will take up the 
''record," and trust you may get quick replies from all '69ers. 

In April, 1875, I was married to the most beautiful and 
accomplished young lady in the world, Edna Newell Har- 
mon, at Washington, Alameda Co., California. Returning 
from California, I resumed my place on the Utica Herald. 
In November, 1875, accepting an offer from the publishers of 
the PacifiG Mural jPress, my wife and I recrossed the conti- 
nent. Since Dec, 1875, I have edited the Mural JPress. We 
have two fine girls, one born in 1876, and another in 1878. 
We are now living at Berkeley, Alameda County, California, 
where we have just enclosed ourselves in a new cottage, from 
the front windows of which we look across the bay of San 
Francisco, directly through the Golden Gate, upon the Pa- 
cific ocean. Here we expect to abide, for we are prosperous 
and happy, and to our home any wandering '69er will always 
be welcomed. 

Advise me how much money you want for expense of pub- 
lication, &c., and I will remit my assessment. 

Sincerely yours, 

Edward J. Wickson. 



22 

This letter of Wickson was written ten years ago. 
As no reply came to tlie last circular letter, it is quite 
possible lie may have been discouraged by the omission 
to publish a report of the decennial re-union, and so is 
not now especially anxious that the Secretary receive 
quick replies from all " '69ers." The reason for that 
omission is given elsewhere. From G. E. Dunham, '75, 
information, is received that Wickson has lately pub- 
lished a book, the title-page of which indicates his influ- 
ence on the western slope. It is as follows : " Cahfornia 
Fruits, and how to Grow them. By E. J. Wickson, Ed- 
itor of the Pacific Rural Press^ Secretary of State Cali- 
fornia Horticultural Society, President California State 
Floral Society, Secretary California State Microscopical 
Society, etc. He has added four to the family, he re- 
ported in '79. 

CmcAGo, EL, Board of Trade. 
I expect to be with you at the re-union. 
Yours very hastily, 

Otis B. Glover. 

It was a source of great disappointment to those who 
were present that neither Glover nor Pope were able to 
come on. The following extract from a letter of Pro- 
fessor Boot indicates the nature of their work at Chi- 
cago. 

MA-THEMATIGAL DEPARTMENT, 

HAMILTON COLLEGE. 

Clinton, N. Y. 
Glover and Pope expected to be here at Commencement, 
up to a day or so before the starting time. Glover, indeed, 
was turned aside only at the last moment. They are both in 
Chicago. Glover cares for his aged father and the house- 
hold of his sister, widow of George C. Campbell, class of '52. 
In addition to his own business as a member of the Board of 
Trade, he is occupied m caring for his father's property, 
and the estate of his sister and her children. Pope is in the 
grain commission and brokerage business — "F. C. Pope & 
Co." Married, and has children. I failed to see him when 



23 

I was last in Chicago. He is prospering. I regret very 
much that the two Chicago members were not able to be at 
your class meeting. 

Truly yours, 

Oren Root. 



482 Ashland Avenue,) 
St. Paul, Minn, j 

I shall not be able to be present with the boys this year. 
1 had looked forward to this re-union, thinking I might at- 
tend, but a certain event, which was of some interest to me, 
necessitated my journey to the-East in the early spring, and 
I cannot expect to get away from my duties for another JEast- 
ern trip so soon. Literally speaking, "I have married a 
wife, and cannot come." I should be very glad to cross 
palms with my class-mates once more at the old camping 
ground, after this long period of separation. It would be a 
real pleasure to talk over the experiences of our twenty years 
of history; but I must content myself with regret, and a few 
words about myself, as requested in your letter. 

You ask for my photograph, which I send herewith. As 
this picture was taktn but a few months ago, and is regard- 
ed by my friends as being a good likeness, the boys will per- 
haps conclude that I am not quite a Methuselah yet in ap- 
pearance. I really do not think that the twenty years have 
used me very hard, as the saying is. Of course I am older 
than when we smoked our pipes at the Commons, near the 
Clinton church, and held our last class meeting on the Wed- 
nesday before graduation ; but I don't think I feel much old- 
er than I did then. And while the intervening years have not 
passed without some mixture of sorrow and disappointment, 
yet I can honestly tell my friends of the ever glorious class 
of 1869, that I bear my forty odd years of life with much of 
strength and vigor, and that I am in splendid health and 
spirits. 

You ask for " an account of my stewardship" during the 
last ten years. To tell the truth, they have been compara- 
tively uneventful, and require but few words in their narra- 
tion. 

At the end of the first ten years of my life after gradua- 
,tion, I was a resident of the far-famed and much-abused city 
of Cairo, Illinois, where I held a fairly good position as Au- 
ditor of the Cairo and Vincennes Railroad. My life there 
terminated about the beginning of December, 1881. The 
road was absorbed into the Wabash system, and I found my- 
self floundering, so to speak, high and dry on the banks of 



24 

the Ohio river, my occupation gone, and I waiting for some- 
thing to "turn up." It may interest my friends to know 
that some years after, when a new management came into 
power, that I had an opportunity to return to Cairo, and re- 
sume my old position, with considerable additional mileage. 
It did not seem best, however, for me to accept the offer. 

I had in mind, after a visit among my relatives at the East, 
to go to Galveston, Texas, where I had a prospect of a posi- 
tion, in charge of the construction accounts of a Southern 
railroad. The prospective salary was a good one, and I 
stood a good chance to have charge of the accounts of the 
Company when the road was under operation. Had it not 
been for a severe domestic affliction, perhaps I would have fol- 
lowed that plan. An opportunity, however, offered itself, 
about a month from the time I left Cairo, to connect myself 
with the Northern Pacific R. B. Co., having my headquarters 
at New York. The opening seemed a favorable one, aad was 
accepted without much hesitation ; and for about seven years 
and a half I have been in that employ, at various places. 
Shortly after I had commenced with that Company, I was 
sent out to the Pacific coast to adjust the accounts of the 
Company there, which had become considerably mixed. Al- 
though my labors there were severe, yet I recall this visit 
with much pleasure. It gave me opportunity for sight-see- 
ing not often enjoyed. I returned to New York in the fall 
of 1882. In the summer of 1884 the department with which 
I was connected was transferred to St. Paul ; and since that 
time I have made my home at this place. My position with 
the Company, while not an official one, is one of some re- 
sponsibility, and has much to commend it ; but if any of my 
class-mates want any advice as to whether they had better 
have their sons go into the railroad business, my advice 
would be to keep them out of the accounting department by 
all means. After an experience of nearly twenty years, I can 
speak from some knowledge on the subject. The tendency 
of a life in a railroad office is to take the grit and spirit out 
of a man. He loses his independence, and almost his iden- 
tity. His life is a weary, dreary round of repetitions. He 
has, generally speaking, but little swing or reach, witii small 
salary, and but faint hope of promotion. 

In March of this year I took the step of which I have al- 
ready spoken ; and though long delayed, I have reason to be 
grateful at having taken it at all. My tardiness in marriage 
may, perhaps, make me appreciate its blessiogs and advan- 
tages all the more. Certainly nothing would induce me to 
return to the old way in which I persevered so many years. 
The new life has started out with much of hope and joy and 



25 

promise in it ; and the bachelor of long standing is at last 
absorbed into the happy Benedict. 

Financially speaking, I am in comfortable circumstances, 
but nothing more. Speaking after the manner of railroad 
men, were my liabilities all paid, there would probably be a 
small surplus, but nothing at all overwhelming. However, I 
feel fairly independent, and hope, with prudence and care, to 
keep a little ahead for the proverbial " rainy day." 

I send greeting and best wishes to all my class-mates. 
Should any of them get my way, it would give me great 
pleasure to welcome them to my home. 

I shall be glad to learn about the Re-union of our class, 
which I hope may be well attended, and be greatly enjoyed. 
Very truly, your friend and class-mate, 

Thomas W. Fitch. 

Fitch's photograph was viewed with special interest. 
It apparently represented a young man of about twenty- 
five, extremely good-looking, and who was fully satis- 
fied with present and future prospects. It is quite pos- 
sible that the coming event had not yet begun to cast 
its shadow. 



Toledo, O., 2901 Collingwood Ave. 

Yours of the 20th inst. was a pleasant surprise. I cannot 
realize that twenty years have gone since graduation. In 
1874 I removed to Toledo, Ohio. In 1878 I bought the part- 
nership interest of the firm of which I was the junior mem- 
ber, and my brothers and myself continued the business of 
wholesale teas and syrups. Out at the house, wife and two 
daughters make me happily realize the fact that " There's no 
place like home." 

During the past ten years I became known to many here 
as "The Electric Light Man," being Manager of the Com- 
pany when the streets were ' first illuminated by electricity — 
a light which diminished police court crimes fifteen per cent. 
I considered a good light to " let shine." Love to the boys. 

Yours truly, Wm. P. Heston. 



OFFICE OF 

WILLIAM H. WHITING, 

COUNSELLOR AT LAW, 

No. 236 Powers Block. 

KOCHESTER, N. Y. 

The story you ask for, so far as I am concerned, is very 
uneventful. 
4 



26 

In September, 1869, after graduating, I entered the Junior 
Class of Auburn Theological Seminary, where I remained 
until the following January, when I accepted the position of 
Principal of the Schools of the Western House of Refuge at 
Rochester, N. Y. In this position I remained until August, 
1876, when I resigned that position. I then entered the Law 
Department of Hamilton College and graduated in the Class 
of 1877, being admitted to practice in all the courts of the 
State on April 30, 1877. Shortly after I made a business 
engagement with the law firm of J. & Q. Van Voorhis of 
Rochester. I am now practicing by myself, and always find 
plenty of work on my desk, although I have had no causas 
celebres. In January, 1874, I took unto myself a wife, by 
name Carrie V. Andrews, a graduate of the Rochester Free 
Academy, classical course, class of 1871, and a teacher in the 
public schools of Rochester. My health has been uniformly 
good with the exception of a severe attack of typhoid fever 
in the fall of 1874. 

That, I think, is very nearly the whole of my story with 
the exception of a few honors and distinctions I may have 
achieved in one portion of my life, which, however, would be 
of no general interest to the class. 

I have had no cabinet photographs taken since I left Col- 
lege, but will have some taken in a short time and will send 
you one for the '69 album. Yours, &c., 

W. H. Whiting. 



LAW OmCES OF 

RUFUS T. GEIGGS, 
No. 237 Broadway, 

0pp. Post Office, Ascend 
by the elevator. 

New York City. 
Your letter was duly received. 

My business since the last report was published has been 
a continuation of the work in which I was then employed. 
I reside with my wife and two children at 65 Eighth avenue, 
Brooklyn. I fully expect to be present at the reunion. 

Very truly yours, Rufus T. Griggs. 

Griggs brought with him to the Re-union photographs 
of his interesting family. It is a question whether any 
member of '69 is greeted by more kindly and brighter 
faces than welcome him home after the strife and tur- 
moil of the day closes. 



27 

LAW OFFICES OF 

CHARLES H. SEARLE, 

Rowlands Building. 

Utica, N. Y. 

You want me to write out for the boys what has happened 
to me in twenty years. 

I wish it were feasible for all of us to get together at the 
reunion. By simply showing ourselves a part of the account 
would be easily rendered — a part that cannot otherwise be 
given. To be back in '89 was not a hard thing to promise 
when we parted in '69. We were sure we should earn a hol- 
iday by that time ; and we believed we would be proud to 
keep our appointment and bring our honors with us. 

But we wander far from college in twenty years. You and 
I know this, though we live in Utica, almost in sight of 
Alma Mater. It is not strange that the call to come back 
should be heard faintly, if at all, by those who are a thousand 
miles or more away. I shall be glad if all hear and heed it 
enough to write. 

Well, as I want to learn what has happened to others, I 
will willingly tell the little that has happened to me. 

I studied law as I intended, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1870. In January, 1873, I came to Utica and formed a 
partnership with ex-District Attorney Ball, '57, which con- 
tinued until his death two years later. Since that time I 
have been alone with the exception of one year. I have gen- 
erally had all the work I wanted, and have at times done my 
best with it. Lawyers do not get rich as a rule, and my case 
is not an exception. 

I have been in politics considerably as a volunteer ; but 
only once, and then only briefly, on my own account. I was 
nominated for Mayor of Utica by the citizens and Eepub- 
licans in 1888 ; but there were enough others to easily beat 
me. 

I was married in 1876. In 1879 my wife died, leaving me 
a little boy sixteen months old. I was again married in 
1885. My family now consists of my wife, a son eleven years 
old, a daughter three and a half and a baby. I live at 13 
Kemble street ; and if the pilgrim feet of any of my class- 
mates, on the way to the old home on the Hill, will halt at 
my door, it will open in cordial welcome. 

Give my affectionate greeting to every sixty-niner. 

Sincerely, Chas. H. Searle. 



Albany, N. Y. 
Ten years as like each other as ten beans ; what can I say 
for them ? '72 saw me go into the sermoniacal mill ; '89 sees 
the mill still grinding. I keep no lists of sermons, parish 



28 

calls, weddings and funerals, so all I can say is I have been 
at it. I have made very little impression upon the world and 
I can return the compliment, the world has made very little 
upon me. My heart is still " fresh " and my head — to the 
casual observer — still brown. 

In my experience learning and unlearning have kept up a 
steady race. At date I should say they were about neck and 
neck. However, I am confident I shall not land in Carlyle's 
" everlasting no." It is doubtless something gained to have 
discovered that the " nature of things " is positive. 

In September of '77 I was married. This is my ample and 
humble confession to my classmates who knew me in '69 as 
president of a society whose cabala bore the sign HoX^fiioc 
TvvaiKcJv. 

I have been abroad, but returned to my native land a 
Tankeeier man than I went away. I am ready for " ^o " on 
the third decade. Yours respectfully, 

J. H. EcoB. 

In 1881 Ecob removed from Augusta, Me., to Albany, 
where he succeeded the Rev. Dr. Upson in the pastorate 
of the Second Presbyterian Church. In his work there 
he has achieved a large measure of success. The col- 
lege conferred upon him the degree of D. D. in the early 
eighties. He delivered the poem before the Hamilton 
Alumni at the 77th commencement, the evening follow- 
ing the class meeting. In addition to the confession so 
freely made in his letter, the Secretary states on the best 
of authority that three bright daughters and Robert 
Gilbert Ecob have entered his pleasant home at Albany. 
It occasioned very deep regret to his classmates, but to 
none of them more than to Ecob himself, that he was 
detained from the meeting by most urgent business and 
that a family wedding called him from Clinton as soon 
as his alumni poem had been pronounced. 



National A.ssociation 

— OF — 

WOOL MANUFACTUEERS. 

Office, 70 Kilby Street. 

Boston, Mass. 
I find to my exceeding sorrow that I cannot be with the 
old men who were boys together in '69, at the 20th reunion 
next Wednesday. Neither can I at present comply with your 



29 

request for a photograph for the album. I beg you to re- 
serve a place for me therein, between McCauley and Pope; 
and as soon as I get an opportunity I will send you a picture 
that will paralyze them both when it cumes to the question 
of the comparative retention of relative good looks. I am 
not sure that that is expressed in the true Hamiltonian style ; 
but what I mean to say is, that I have grown old and gray 
since I last met with you. To the truth of this assertion I 
call Brother Ecob to witness. I will not annoy him, however, 
by adding that I began to age as soon as I rashly attempted 
to counteract his influence by editing a daily newspaper in 
the wicked city of Albany, where he still preaches. Ecob was 
too much for me. The city grjew wickeder and more wicked j 
and after three years of hopeless struggle I shook the dust 
thereof from my feet, and came hither, vowing that, though 
my three children and amiable wife should be starving, never 
would I attempt to edit a daily newspaper again. That will 
seem to you an ignoble ending of twenty years of hard work 
in journalism, but that is how I feel, all the same. While I 
do not call them wasted years, and while I have never yet 
heard the bark of the wolf at my door, I yet beg to add, as 
the sum of my experience, that if I had devoted the same 
amount of time and labor to my own advancement, in those 
years, that I have given to the public which regards the 
newspaper editor as its abject slave, I should to-day be other- 
wise^engaged than in trying to pull wool over the eyes of the 
misguided wretches (of whom McCauley used to be one) who 
don't know that a protective tariff is the grandest blessing 
that a divine Providence has permitted to be invented for 
the glory of this nation. Last March I was elected Secretary 
of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers ; and in 
editing its Bulletin, which comes out quarterly (when the 
editor feels like it), I find a delightful change from hustling 
together a new: paper three hundred and sixty-five times a 
year, not counting supplements. I bring to my new duties 
lots of experience in everything but the matters to which I 
expect my life will hereafter be devoted. My one regret is, 
that it takes me out of the bent and biggest of States, in 
which I had hoped to always live and die. My consolation 
is, that my home is hereafter to be in the Hub of the Uni- 
verse, — the city of American culture, so called, of whose 
amazing lack of culture I have had conclusive evidence, in 
•the fact that everybody who asks me where I graduated, 
upon being told, replies, " And where is Hamilton College, 
and who else ever graduated there?" Thereupon I look 
each one steadily in the face and reply, " It is the Alma Mater 
of SELDEN HAINES TALCOTT, the leading homoeopathic 



30 

physician of the universe." Not to have heard of him is to 
argue oneself unknown ; and so I have them on the hip. 

But I weary you. I long to shake you all by the hand 
again. I hope that not many of the familiar faces will be 
absent. One I fear will, my dear friend Wickson, of whom 
I cannot think without moralizing on the strange ways in 
which this world is ordained to us. Fifteen years ago, Wick- 
son and I were working at the same desk together, appa- 
rently for life, and sleeping in the same bed. Now he lives 
on the shores of the Pacific, while I leside where I can 
easily, without moving in my tracks, should the emergency 
arise, sweep back the waves of the old Atlantic. We are the 
two most widely separated members of '69. Yet we will al- 
ways be joined by a peculiar bond, as will all of us, each to 
the other. 

Cordially yours in old Sixty-nine, 

S. N. D. North. 



No information whatever has been received from Allen 
since graduation by any member of the class so far as 
can be learned. 

The terra incognita surrounding Schlager still contin- 
ues as impenetrable as at the time Burdick sent out the 
first report of the class. 

No communication has been received from Lucky. 
Bachman, '71, reports him practicing law in Knoxville, 
Tenn., but repeated requests have failed to bring an 
answer. He is married and has one child. 

Griggs sends the following relative to Anderson : 

" Anderson remained at North Woburn until the first of 
last August, when he went to Koberts College at Constanti- 
nople, where you will remember he went immediately after 
graduation. I have not heard from him directly during the 
year. I know that he was always much liked at North Wo- 
burn, and that he has a very responsible position in Boberts 
College." 

McCauley still remains the practical agriculturist of 
the class. According to report he is successfully man- 
aging an extensive nursery — fruit, shrubs, vines, at Stan- 
ley, Ontario Co. Two or three winters since Professor 



31 

Upson met him in a railway car on his way to Albany. 
He describes him as changed but little in appearance 
and retaining the royal good nature his friends enjoyed 
so much during college days. 

As for the Secretary himself, he has during these years 
continued in the occupation represented in the prepara- 
tion of this report, that is, looking over " compositions,'' 
adding thereto and taking therefrom. The last college 
triennial catalogue, published in '85, reveals to him the 
names of fifty-seven boys who had found their way to 
the dear old college from his class room. To a certain 
extent he has lived over again his own happy life on the 
Hill in their experience there. The long vacations and 
relaxations incidental to school work have enabled him 
with all the other members of the class in a measure to 
prepare for the coming of North's " wolf at the door " 
and Fitch's proverbial " rainy day." A trip through 
Europe in '87 with W. J. Woods, of '75, and other op- 
portunities for travel in our own country have served to 
brighten the years as they have gone by. 



Iri # QCerrieriarri. 



For five years after graduatian our class ranks re- 
mained " Full as when we gathered under the trees on 
class-day, smoked the last pipe, sang the last song, 
breathed each to every other a ' Good-bye and God bless 
you ' and parted." Then Wetmore was called. Seven 
years later the summons came for King, and in three 
more Cleveland had followed, all three cut down in the 
strength of their early manhood by the same relentless 
disease, consumption. Two years passed by and Jerome 
lay dead with his three beautiful children in the chilly 
waters of an eastern lake. Within the same twelve- 
month Cheeseman, too, heard the Master's greeting. 
Henceforth, dear classmates, the vacancies they have 
left can only be filled by us with memories which will 
grow more and more sacred with each revolving year. 

CHAELES AUGUSTUS WETMORE. 

Charles Augustus Wetmore was born in Norwich, N. T., 
November 8, 1843. He entered college with health seriously 
injured by service in the army of the Union. In September, 
1869, he entered the Auburn Theological Seminary. Finding 
that he was disabled for preaching by a serious asthmatic 
affection, he became a teacher. In March, 1871, he accepted 
a call to the charge of the academy at Leicester, Mass. Here 
he labored for three years, and in spite of his broken health 
he won for himself the highest respect as a thorough teacher, 
a scholar of refined tastes and large culture, a high-minded 
and useful citizen. Neither bodily weakness nor severe suf- 
fering could quench the ardor of his nature, his hopefulness 
and high resolves. He kept himself in full sympathy with 
every sincere endeavor to enlarge the field of human attain- 
ment. He was no mere routine teacher, following a well- 
beaten track, and content with exercises performed mechan- 
ically. He sought to awaken in his pupils' minds an interest 
in their studies akin to his own, that it might be in them a 
self-moving force, and insure their successful attainments. 
So he studied them, while they studied their books ; studied 



33 

their dispositions, tastes and mental qualities, and their 
moral characters and aims not less. He watched them care- 
fully and patiently, to discover, if he might, the secret spring 
which should open mind and heart, unlock their faculties, and 
show them the fountains of knowledge and honorable excel- 
lence. He was not discouraged though the soil proved hard 
and unyielding at first, and seldom failed to see the good 
result of his methods. The manner of his death was in strict 
accordance with the whole course of his life. Death came to 
him while still hopeful, still forming plans of work for him- 
self, and aspiring to do good and great things in the earthly 
life which he believed was yet in store for him, with reno- 
vated powers. He had fought his persistent and painful 
disease — complicated with other maladies — through long 
months and years of pain, had never surrendered, never de- 
spaired. His last day on earth was a hopeful and happy one. 
Suddenly the supreme moment came to him, and, as by a shot 
on the field of battle, he fell, a brave and constant soldier to 
the last, at Jefferson, N. H., July 6, 1874. Mr. Wetmore 
married Sarah A. Pollard, of Seneca Falls, March 21, 1871, 
and was the father of Edith May Wetmore, born May 16, 1872. 



GEOKGE EUGENE KING. 

It is a sad duty to announce the death of George Eugene 
King, ^t. 37, which took place June 14, 1881, at his resi- 
dence in Kavenna, O. Mr. King was born at Ravenna Dec. 
3, 1844, the son of Frederick F. and Orpha King, and had 
passed the meridian of his 37th year. He was endowed with 
an exceedingly bright and vigorous mind and early devel- 
oped studious inclinations and application. He was a gradu- 
ate of the Ravenna High School, class of 1863. He then 
spent two years at Western Reserve College and two years 
at Hamilton College, where he graduated in 1869. Return- 
ing to Ravenna, he entered the law office of Messrs. Hart & 
Reed, and May 10, 1871, was admitted to the bar. During 
the period of his legal studies he was also principal of the 
Union School and was esteemed as one of the most valuable 
teachers ever occupying the position. August 16, 1871, he 
married Eliza H. Root. Immediately after this event he re- 
moved to Fairfield, N. Y., and remained one year as a teacher 
in the Seminary there, a portion of the time as principal. 
Toward the close of 1872 he fixed his residence in Brooklyn 
and opened an office at 201 Broadway, New York city, con- 
tinuing in practice there until his return to Ravenna, in 
March, 1881. It was a heroic undertaking for a young man 
without means or influential friends to venture into the great 
6 



34 

city, but lie made it a success, and he was intrusted with im- 
portant business. It is said that in his practice whenever he 
arose to address the court he was greeted with the close at- 
tention of the Judge, so thoroughly had he impressed his 
legal brethren with his solid, practical qualities and clear 
knowledge of the law. In the early part of his residence at 
Brooklyn after passing the day in his office in New York he 
taught a night school, thus adding to his then slender in- 
come. He united with a Presbyterian church in Brooklyn, 
and in the Sunday school took charge of a clasb composed of 
forty young business men. At the beginning of 1881 his 
health had so far failed that he deemed a residence in that 
climate no longer prudent, so he returned to Ravenna about 
AprU 1st, purchased a small farm and formed a law partner- 
ship with C. A. Reed, intending for a few years to enjoy the 
freedom of rural life with a business association which would 
keep him from fading out of the profession which he loved. 
But his malady had progressed farther than was realized. 
After being established in his new home he was but a few 
times on the street, and swiftly, indeed, the end hastened. 
A wife and two young children, the eldest six, the youngest 
four years of age, are left to lament their great loss 



FREDERIC ERASTUS CLEVELAND. 

Frederic Erastus Cleveland was born in the village of Mad- 
ison, Madison Co., New York, July 1, 1847. His preparation 
for College was made at the Waterville Academy, from which 
institution he entered Hamilton, ;September, 1865. His life- 
work was chosen even before he commenced his College 
course, and during this period he kept it steadily in view. 
The month following his graduation he went to New York 
city, where he commenced the study of law with the firm of 
Pinckney & Campbell, 78 Nassau St. He was admitted to 
the bar in April, 1870, and soon after became a member of 
the law firm of Pritchard, Smith & Cleveland, 49 Wall St. 
This partnership was a successful one. The untiring indus- 
try and honorable dealings of Mr. Cleveland brought him 
into many important legal cases, and in them all he never 
forgot that he was a Christian gentleman. He desired 
success in the profession he loved so well ; but he sought 
only that which was free from stain, that which was 
above reproach. He united with the LaFayette Avenue 
Presbyterian church in Brooklyn. In this sphere of his life 
he found great pleasure, and in many ways especially en- 
deared himself to the young people of the congregation. For 



35 

one year he was President of the Young People's Associa- 
tion of that church, but was obliged to decline a re-election 
on account of failing health and pressing business cares. He 
was interested in politics, serving as a member of the Re- 
publican General Committee, and was nominated for the As- 
sembly, but was unable to accept the nomination proffered. 
On October 6th, 1875, he was married to Catherine Sexton 
Aldrich, of Palmyra, N. Y. Two children blessed this union, 
Charles Aldrich and Catherine. Those of us who were pres- 
ent at the Decennial Re-union in 1879, recall with pleasure 
his appearance then. His bright face, boyish almost in its 
freshness and beauty, gave no warning that the terrible en- 
emy before whom Wetmore had fallen, and with whom King 
had already entered upon a hopeless struggle, would soon 
darken his own life. His quaint humor continually enlivened 
the little circle that gathered there, and his buoyant spirit 
seemed shadowed only by the thought that so few of the old 
boys of '69 had come back. The contest that came soon af- 
ter with his disease — consumption — was fought bravely, 
manfully. He desired life— life to complete in his chosen 
profession the work he had begun so well — life to cherish 
and foster the young wife and beautiful children with whom 
his own existence was so closely entwined — life to bring 
forth the fruits of integrity, faithfulness, righteousness. 
When, however, the truth dawned upon him that this was to 
be denied him, he suffered on with rare gentleness and pa- 
tience until his Master called. After a severe hemorrhage, 
the end came peacefully to him on April 2, 1884, in the little 
town of La Junta, Colorado, whither he had gone in his 
fruitless search for strength. He was buried in the ceme- 
tery at Palmyra, N. Y. 



THEODORE CHARLES JEROME. 

Theodore Charles Jerome was the second son of the late 
Rev. Charles Jerome, '39, and a grandson of L-a Jerome, of 
Pompey, an alumnus of the Old Hamilton Oneida Academy. 
He was born in Oxford, N. Y., Jan. 31, 1850. He prepared 
for college at the Rural High School in Clinton, while Rev. 
Dr. B. W. Dwight, '35, was its principal. He was two years 
a student of theology in Lane Seminary, and was graduated 
from Andover Seminary in 1872. He was ordained for the 
Congregational ministry, July 2, 1872. The New Bedford 
Standard gives the fullest account thus far received of the 
di'owning of Mr. Jerome and three of his children, May 
28, 1886, 

*' Further particulars of the Wolfboro calamity state that 



36 

Q|i Friday Kev. T. C. Jerome, pastor of the Congregational 
church in that village, in company with his two sons, Paul, 
aged 11, and Bernard, aged 8, and his daughter Kate, aged 
9, and Theodore Davis, aged 19, went out on the lake for 
fishing and pleasure, expecting to return about 3 o'clock in 
the afternoon. Not making their appearance at the stated 
time, the family became somewhat alarmed. A small steam- 
er arrived at 4 o'clock and reported seeing a boat bottom side 
up, drifting in the vicinity of Kenniston's Island. Parties 
immediately went in search, and late in the evening the 
bodies were found lying on the bottom of the lake in about 
eight feet of water, and forty feet from shore. Indications 
lead to the belief that in an effort to disengage a hook which 
had caught at the bottom, the boat, which was a small, cranky 
affair, upset, and all were thrown out." 

On Sunday, May 30, funeral services were conducted in the 
Congregational church in Wolfboro, N. H., by Eev. Mr. Nor- 
cross, of North Conway. Appropriate remarks were made 
by Kev. Messrs. Thompson, of Wakefield, and Hunton and 
Chapman, of Wolfboro. The bodies of Mr. Jerome, the 
three children, and that of young . Davis, were brought into 
the church. The floral tributes were beauntiful. Upwards of 
1,000 persons viewed the remains. 

On Monday the bodies of Mr. Jerome and his three chil- 
dren were removed to the residence of Mrs. Catherine B. 
Seabury, in New Bedford, Mass., where the last funeral ser- 
vices were held on Wednesday, June 1. His three brothers 
and sister were present, viz : William R. Jerome, '68, of Phil- 
adelphia, Pa., John L. Jerome, '73, of Denver, Col., Frank 
Jerome and Miss Irene Jerome. Rev. T. C. Jerome leaves a 
widow, daughter of the late Joseph Swan, of Medford, and 
two children, aged 4 and 2 years. He was 36 years of age, 
and was installed pastor of the Pacific Congregational 
Church in New Bedford, 1872, and left for a Western pas- 
torate in 1873. He was stationed at Patchogue, N. Y., in 
1878, and preached there until 1881, when he settled at Man- 
istee, Mich., where he remained until October, 1882, when 
he was installed pastor of the Congregational church at Gor- 
ham. Me. He was transferred to Wolfboro in June, 1885. 
His church was crowded with people listening to a temper- 
ance lecture by a Western lady when the news of the disas- 
ter was made known. Six ladies fainted, and terrible ex- 
citement prevailed. Mr. Jerome was a very able minister. At 
the Strafford conference of Congregational Churches at Great 
Falls, on the 25th ult., he read a very interesting paper enti- 
tled, " What is the Bible view of worldly lives ?" His sister, 
Irepe Jerome, is well known as an artist and authoress. 



37 

EUGENE OHEESEMAN. 

Rev. Eugene Cheeseman died at Webster, N. Y., July 27, 
1886, after a brief illness, aged 45 years. He was born in 
New Hudson, March 11, 1843, and prepared for college at 
Springville Academy. He was admitted to the Class of 1868, 
in September, 1864, but immediately enlisted as a private in 
the 90th Regiment, N. Y. S. Vols. He was mustered out of 
service at Washington, D. C, July 3d, 1865, and re-entered 
college in the Class of 1869. In 1869 Mr. Cheeseman was 
appointed principal of the Coxsackie Academy, and in 1870 
was appointed principal of the Marion Collegiate Institute. 
He held this position for two years. In 1872 he entered the 
Junior Class of Rochester Theological Seminary, and in 1873 
the Middle Class of Auburn Theological Seminary. He was 
?icensed to preach by the Lyons Presbytery, April 14, 1874. 
In December, 1869, he was married to Miss M. Eliza Holt, of 
Webster. At the time of his death Mr. Cheeseman was pas- 
tor-elect of the Presbyterian Church at Skaneateles. He be- 
gan his work there the first of last November, and was to 
have been installed this fall. His brief ministry of a little 
less than eleven years, has been very active and fruitful. He 
was ordained after graduating from Auburn Theological Sem- 
inary in the Class of '75, by the Presbytery of Otsego, at 
Sidney Plains, where he labored most successfully for two 
years. He was called to Fowlerville in 1878, and here his 
church soon experienced a most wonderful and gracious re- 
vival, resulting in large additions to the church. But in this 
field the faithful pastor overworked, and was never as well 
afterward, though he was not at any time obliged to give up 
the ministry entirely. At Rose Valley, and Mount Pleasant, 
Mich., where he afterwards ministered, his labors were sig- 
nally blessed. After supplying the pulpit of the Presbyterian 
Church at Shortville for several months, he was called to 
Skaneateles. This church had been for a long time without 
a pastor, and they were greatly rejoiced in having found a 
man so capable, kind, and earnest. Mr. Cheeseman preached 
with unusual energy and unction to his people both morning 
and evening of July 4th. On July 11th he arranged to ex- 
change with one of the pastors in Syracuse. But Saturday 
morning he was too ill to go, and the exchange was aban- 
doned. He never preached again. Though he rallied and 
was able to go on his vacation to the home of his wife's 
parents at Webster, he continued to grow worse until death 
ended his sufferings and his labors on July 27th. Mr. Cheese- 
man leaves a wife and one daughter and a large circle of be- 
reaved relatives and friends. He was truly beloved by all 



38 

who knew him. He was gentle and winning in manner, 
friendly with all, and a workman that needeth not to be 
ashamed. As a preacher he was earnest, plain, evangelical. 
He believed and preached the good old Gospel, and won 
thereby men to Christ, and strengthened the brethren. He 
was buried at Webster, N. Y., on Thursday afternoon, July 
29fch, from the beautiful country home of his wife's parents. 
The services were conducted by his warm personal friend, 
the Kev. William A. Rice, pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian 
Church of Syracuse, assisted by the pastors of the Methodist, 
Episcopal, and Baptist churches of Skaneateles. He was 
tenderly carried to his grave by his faithful and devoted 
Session. 



After the reading of the communications given above 
a few subjects of a more practical nature were intro- 
duced. 

The appearance of the album holding the class photo- 
graphs taken at gradua^tion, which was brought into the 
meeting, showed that the general public had taken great 
interest in '69 since leaving the Hill. It was very badly 
worn. A resolution was passed providing for a new one 
to accompany that containing " The Class of '69, Twenty 
Years after Graduation." A tax of $2.00 upon each 
member was voted to defray the expenses of publishing 
this report and for other expenses incurred. Bissell, 
with the promptness and discretion which characterize 
the New York financier, at once proceeded to make col- 
lections from those who were present, gravely remarking 
that he had " found out it was never well to let a cred- 
itor get out of sight." 

The next Ee-union was discussed, it being decided to 
hold it in 1899 and to provide for a longer meeting and, 
also, a collation. Members of the class then residing in 
Central New York were appointed a committee to make 
necessary arrangements. No inducement will be needed 
to call together on that occasion the boys who were pres- 
ent this year. The memory of this last meeting will 
bring them, every one. While others may be farther 



89 

distant, let ns all make the effort to greet one another 
again then as the lengthening shadows begin to tell us 
that the night is not far away. 

The new class album now possesses photographs of 
Talcott, Bagg, Conley, Lillibridge, Griggs, Greenfield 
Heston, Fitch, Payson, Beecher, Draper, Ecob, Down- 
ing, Fowler, Cleveland, Jerome, Crandall, Kneeland, 
Cheeseman, Brown, Hull, Chrysler, North, Burdick, 
Barrows, Foote, Bissell, Whiting. It will be placed in 
Library Hall, and hereafter for members of '69 will form 
one of the most interesting features of a visit to Old 
Hamilton. Will not every other classmate who may 
read these lines send on his contribution to make the 
book complete? 

Although no arrangements had been made for a ban- 
quet, the most of those who were present at the meeting 
in Library Hall met again by chance in the dining room 
of the Willard House at supper time. A table was at 
once appropriated by the Class of 1869. An extempore 
symposium followed. While the menu was not as ex- 
tensive as that which was provided soon after President 
Fisher's Junior party, or the little episode to which 
Conley so modestly refers, it was nevertheless thoroughly 
enjoyed in spite of Fowler and Griggs' foreboding pre- 
diction of its effect upon the digestive abilities of the 
class. 

In the preparation of this report it has seemed most 
satisfactory and useful to give the letters entire as re- 
ceived. They thus assume a personality and interest 
which would otherwise be utterly lost. While the av- 
erage American citizen may hesitate to impart directly 
personal information, no charge of lack of modesty will 
ever be entered against any classmate whose words are 
presented here. They are for Hamilton's '69. As such 
they are certain to find a ready and responsive welcome. 

Wm. L. Downing, 

For the Class. 



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